Broken
by JackPotr
Summary: Another one shot that takes place after the final battle.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or make any money by doing this. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

AN: Ha…another one shot. I figured I'd share some of these things I've been playing with. Hope you enjoy.

Broken

The battle was over and Harry Potter triumphed in the end. His old title of the boy-who-lived was now forgotten as the people of the magical world had given him a new title…the man-who-won.

Harry was not especially thrilled with his new title and the hopeful looks on everyone's faces when they looked at him. It may have been a new title but in the end, the looks were the same. The masses that came to Hogwarts after the battle all had that worshipful expression on their faces that seemed to say, at least to Harry, our savior will solve all our problems.

The looks made Harry quite nervous. This world had already taken so much from him. His parents, his godfather, his adopted uncle and aunt (Oh how glad he was that Tonks never heard him call her that), an older brother (Fred), and last but not least, the loves of his life. Most people would wonder why he wasn't so concerned over the loss of Albus and Severus but at this point, he still had major issues with both of them and what they had done to him over the years. At the present time, those two men were more responsible for his lot in life than anyone else and he felt he was justified to hold onto his anger at them for a bit longer. Maybe one day, he could forgive them…but that would probably not be a day in the near future.

The pressure was beginning to get to him and although the grounds were mostly repaired, the signs of the battle were still there. If he were to stand up from his hiding place and look, the battered castle and its inhabitants would come into view. Just the thought of it brought a chill up his spine.

Life in the castle became more oppressive as everyone tried their best to return a sense of normalcy. He loved McGonagall dearly but her insistence that he stay around was beginning to strain their relationship. He knew she just wanted to protect him but at the moment, all he wanted to do was get away.

He laid his head back down on the ground and stared back up at the sky. He knew he should be up at the castle helping but he just couldn't bear the stares right now. If that wasn't enough, his 'adoptive' family was also putting pressure on him that he really didn't want to consider at the moment. The comments and hints were slowly pushing him away from the people he was closest too.

**HD**

At the end of the last school year, Harry and Ginny dated for two weeks before he broke it off with her to keep her safe. While it was nice to be normal for a short period of time, reality was catching up quickly and he knew he had to end it. The most guilt he felt was the kiss at Bill's wedding. Why did he do that? Did he love her or was it comforting to him during a hard time in his life. A time when he knew he was more than likely charging to his death. Had he used Ginny?

It took his time away from everyone to realize that he did use her in a way. He used her to try and forget about the others. He knew she was willing thanks to her long time crush on him and he took advantage of that. The only thing he could be even remotely proud of during that time was that they never progressed far enough to take _that _step. If they had, he knew things would be far worse.

His time away while on the hunt allowed him the opportunity to really think and come to grip with his feelings. On the rare occasion when he allowed himself to think of the future, Ginny was not in that picture.

At one point, he had feelings for another witch but she followed everyone else in his life and left him. She wasn't killed. No it was much worse. Despite their strong feelings for one another, she was burdened with something he was not. A family. Her parents were old school and pureblood. For their daughter to sully her self with a half-blood was not acceptable. The secret relationship of his fifth year including the summer before quickly came to a close when she bowed to the demands of her family and broke the relationship. While it hurt, Harry was not the type of person who would ever want someone to defy her family to be with him. The loss of his parents affected him in that way and he would never wish someone to have to live with that. Hell, he wouldn't even wish that on Malfoy.

It took a while but he managed to move on. He focused on the other object of his affection who happened to be a girl named Hermione Granger. She was his best friend until last year when she just turned on him for the first time since he saved her from the troll. Even as they left on the hunt, the relationship was strained at best.

All of it ended in a flash of anger as yet another heated argument erupted while on the hunt. When Ron asked her if she was staying or going, she chose the easy way and left with him. Harry accomplished the rest of the mission alone.

Some of his methods were unusual but in the end, he could count the Goblin nation as allies. It was probably the best thing he ever did as they discovered the Horcrux in his scar and used it and the locket to track the others including one buried deep in the bowels of their own bank. Tracking the last two proved easy and Harry soon had his answers. Nagini and something at Hogwarts.

Harry fought the Carrows and Snape when he appeared there one day but not before they had informed their master. Harry's faith in the magical world broke even more as no one pitched in and gave him any help. It was through a lot of luck and Harry's own sneakiness that helped him win. As he turned around, he was shocked to see the DA along with Ron and Hermione just watching as he battled for his life.

Once the battle was over and Tom lay dead in the Great Hall, it amazed him that Ron and Hermione along with many others stepped forward and congratulated him on their plan. He stood there staring at them for a little while before he finally just gave them a look of disgust and walked away as he shook his head. The next few days were some of the hardest of his life as so many of his broken friendships were now forgiven on their end so that they could share in the glory of his victory. His response was classic Harry; he would merely look at them and then walk away without saying anything. The constant presence of the hangers on was what had driven him out onto the edge of the forest.

Most would ask why he just didn't leave already. The answer was simple, as with many of his adventures and due to his state of constant alert ever since the end of 4th year, Harry was weary. He was suffering from the big three which was mental and emotional, physical, and magical exhaustion. When he got to this point, he learned a long time ago that it was best just to stay put and recover his strength. At eighteen, he was a battle hardened veteran of the blood war who had seen more horror than any man his age had a right too.

The Goblins recognized the signs while he was with them and gave him some books to help him learn to deal with everything. Harry knew he suffered from PTSD and did his best to cope with the demons in his mind. The only thing he could take comfort in was that he exorcised many of his demons on the field of battle recently and could only hope it would be enough to not make him a danger to anyone around him.

**HD**

He knew that he was beginning to recover as his mind was once again losing its sluggishness and he was able to start forming plans other than eating and finding places to stay hidden from the others. All these things were rolling through his head and he finally realized what he had to do. The only reason he remained at Hogwarts was due to his exhaustion. The final battle took a lot out of him and it took him several days to recover from the battle and regain some of his magical power and reserves.

It was with a smile that he once again laid back and started making his plans to escape. At the moment, his choices were either staying in England or not. The option of where was not really an issue even though main Potter homes had long been destroyed and Grimmauld was just not the healthiest environment for him to be in.

During his time with the Goblins, he learned that part of his inheritance from the Potters were quite a few rental properties scattered across the island and if need be, he could move into one of them as they were relatively unknown to anyone in the magical world. The other part of his inheritance was several houses scattered around the world. They weren't mansions or anything extravagant but they were nice places to relax and recover. His mind then wondered over to the Black inheritance. Sadly there was very little left of it as Narcissa Malfoy used Sirius' time in prison and on the run to pillage the family fortune. When her husband went through all the gold, she began selling off properties and houses until all that was left was Grimmauld Place and Black Island. The only reason those two remained was that she didn't know about the island and couldn't do anything to the ancestral home as she wasn't Lord Black.

Sirius' will was an interesting one. He gave Harry the option of taking the title and even warned him of some of the negative things that came along with it. The mere thoughts of them made him shudder. The other thing Sirius did was give him the option of taking whatever he wanted as well as his personal vault which couldn't be touched by Narcissa. In the end, Harry kept Black island and added the contents of Sirius' personal vault to the one of his parents. That vault held very little gold but its value was in the memories stored there. The first time he visited, it was like a pensieve into his parents' lives and it even had one of those too.

Most people would think that a normal person would jump at the chance to gain more power but not Harry. Sirius' will called for the Goblins to give Harry a truthful and accurate accounting of what he would be responsible for as Lord Black. The mere thought made Harry shudder and it contained a marriage contract to not only Millicent Bulstrode, but one to Eloise Midgen as well. It wasn't their looks that bothered him the most; it was their hungry looks when they looked at him as most of the people involved in the contracts now knew that he stood to inherit the title.

In the end, he decided to pass the title along to the next person in line since it was his mother who had drained the accounts dry and made the House of Black lose most of the power they once had. The only thing of any real value was their seat on the Wizengamot and that held no value to Harry either as he wanted nothing to do with the sheep of England. He also knew that passing along Grimmauld was not doing Draco any favors either. The house would require so much work to restore it to an acceptable level and the Black family didn't have the gold to do that any longer.

The Goblins offered him everything from the houses of Lestrange, Malfoy, and Black if they fell in battle. After a bit of thought, Harry refused and said that the houses should die out. When Ragnok looked at him and said "If that happens, we will have the right to confiscate the vaults and keep the gold."

"Yes but at the same time, the debts and anything tied to those houses will be voided. No, I think a little the little bit of gold I would gain is not worth the aggravation of the rest of it."

"Very well, I can see your point as even a troll wouldn't want to have anything to do with those young ladies."

"There is that too."

**HD**

Harry continued to lay back against a rock as he stared off into the sky. He could feel his magic was almost restored and with it, his body was mostly healed. As with everything else he had been through, some things would take a long time but he knew with his magic back at an acceptable level, it meant that his body had once again recharged as well and it was time for him to move on. He turned his head slightly and gazed upon the castle. His mental scars would take much longer to heal but away from here, he might just stand a chance.

His current debate was whether to get up and leave now or wait, go back to the castle and get his stuff and then leave. Since he was in no hurry and under no pressure for the first time in a long time, he leaned back against his rock once again and stared up at the sky. Although he wanted to be away from these people, there was just something about Hogwarts that gave him a sense of inner peace.

Another hour passed and he heard the snap of a twig. Either his hiding place had finally been discovered after three years or someone was doing another sweep of the grounds for dead bodies.

He frowned as a shadow fell across him and blocked the warmth of the sunshine.

"I thought I would find you here."

He sighed. "What do you want Daphne? Did you come down here just to reopen old wounds?"

"No, I came to heal some."

For the first time, he looked up at her. He was shocked at her appearance. The pureblood princess looked almost normal. He had seen her like this before but it had been three or more years. His eyes caught her perfectly manicured flip flop clad feet with black nail polish. As his eyes moved up, her legs were covered in a pair of faded jeans that were torn at the knee. It was the way they used to go out in the normal world to hide from everyone and the expectations placed on both of them. His eyes continued to move up and he saw she was wearing a black tank top and could see the black bra straps sticking out from underneath. That alone was way beyond anything the princess would have allowed in the past as she always had to dress conservatively and proper. His eyes lingered on her chest for a bare second but it was enough for her to notice.

"Enjoying the view Harry? Want me to turn around so you can stare at my ass too?"

"No, that's alright. I'll just look at it as you walk away as you've done for the past three years."

She was pouting as his eyes locked on her face. The violet eyes staring back at him made almost everyone else nervous but not him, his mind drifted for a second to a time when it was those eyes he sought after and for a short time, found so much passion staring back at him. His eyes took in her pale but beautiful features. Her hair was no longer done up just so. She was dressed like they did in the past when it was just the two of them against the world. Her long black hair hung down without even a trace of the care to it that was always her trademark in the past.

"You look better like this but then you know I always thought so."

"Thank you"

Her eyes drifted over to the portable CD player lying beside him. She remembered when he bought them both one. They would take trips to the parks in London and just lay back on the grass as she plugged her headset into his and they lay there listen to music as they enjoyed the closeness of just being with each other.

She hesitantly reached out of it and then pulled it to her. Taking the earbuds and placing them in her ear, she switched on the music and sat there listening. When her eyes met his, she could only look down but somewhere deep inside, she felt hope. As soon as she heard the words _"I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh"_ Her eyes locked on his.

"After all this time, you still listen to our song?"

His eyes sought hers for the briefest of seconds. "Yeah, it seemed right somehow. It's all I feel anymore."

"But after all this time, Weasley and Granger?"

"Didn't work out…story of my life."

"Why not?"

"They….they weren't you."

"Oh…I am sorry Harry."

"Yeah well, so am I but there's not much we can do about it is there?"

"I…."

He cut her off with a raised hand. "Don't Daphne….just don't. I know I wasn't raised like you. I know that in this world…family is everything. Maybe if my parents…well it doesn't matter. I'm the one with a foot in both worlds who is not welcome in either and doesn't understand enough about them to make my way in either place. I'm just the freak with no real home."

"That's not true."

"Then tell me what I'm supposed to do now? You see what's going on up there. I'm not going to be any part of their bullshit anymore. It took me a week to recover from the battle and just when I've decided what I going to do…you come along and try to confuse things. Just leave me alone Daphne. We can't be together so I would appreciate it if you'd just go so I didn't have to think about something else this world has taken from me."

"Harry….I want to be with you."

Harry snorted. "You already made it clear where you belonged. You couldn't go against family before…what makes you think you can now? What about that damned marriage contract you're under?"

She smiled softly at that. "In a fit of rage because I fought his advances, my betrothed decided that my parents were to blame. He took some of his DE buddies to their house and killed them."

"I…I'm sorry Daphne. I didn't know."

"You were gone, you couldn't have known. My parents weren't DE's but were part of the financial backing for Voldemort. As soon as they were dead, my betrothed swept in and took control over me. Due to the contract, my virtue was protected but he still made me touch him and he did the same to me."

"I'm sorry Daphne."

"Me too but it gets better. Draco saw an opportunity and swept in and took Astoria. Since our parents were dead, he and my betrothed forced me to sign a contract for her."

"I'm sorry you had to do that."

"So was I at first but then I found out the little bint wanted the ponce. She had been taking care of his needs for several years and was only too happy to comply. That left me all alone."

Harry didn't say anything and just shook his head. Daphne remained quiet for a minute before she started up again. "I was resigned to my fate and tried to make the best of it. Without my parents, he had complete control over me…you know those pureblood rules? Well, the contract basically made him my head of house."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Well…my betrothed was killed in the final battle by the man I have been in love with for some time. His death released me from everything and not only did I get control over my house but his as well. I just came here to thank you and see if…"

"I'm happy you are free and can have the life you want. Tell me who did it so I can thank him for freeing you."

She snorted. "You really are dense sometimes."

"What?"

She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her lips desperately crashed into his. It took him a few seconds to respond but then he was kissing her back just as passionately.

Once they broke apart, she held his hand in hers. "I came down here to thank you for freeing me. When I listened to the CD player, I knew that despite the attempts by everyone to keep us apart, we still belonged to each other."

"There was never anyone else Daph…no matter how hard I tried."

She squeezed his hand. "For me either. The contract…there was no love there…I was going to be another Narcissa…a trophy wife. I want so much more than that."

"Even in hiding?"

She smiled. "You call it hiding….I call it spending quality time with the love of my life. Have you decided something?"

"I was leaving England for now. I don't want to be dragged back in."

"Me either. Will you take me with you?"

"You want to live with me as I travel around? That wouldn't be exactly proper."

"It would be if you would ask me to marry you….I'm pretty sure I would say yes."

"Isn't that a little fast? I mean…we've been broke up for almost three years."

She huffed and he was distracted by the way her chest moved when she did. "Okay then…Harrison James Potter…will you marry me?"

"Here or somewhere else?"

She gave him a beaming smile. "I don't care…I just don't want to be apart from you anymore."

For the first time in a long time, Harry smiled and pulled her into a hug. "If something were to happen to you, would Astoria be next in line to inherit everything?"

She leaned back and looked at him for a minute with a frown on her face. "I never thought I'd ask this but do you want me for my money?"

Harry chuckled. "No love, I have plenty. It's just that when things settle down and certain people start trying to rebuild their power, those certain people may look to inheritances to gain it back. You would probably be in danger."

She pushed him back against the rock but not before she cast a cushioning charm on it. When she had him back, she grabbed his knees and spread them apart. Her next act was to turn around and settle down as she pulled his arms around her. After she wiggled a little and got comfortable, she said "Sounds like a story is coming….your stories are always so…well I wanted to be here where you could hold me while I either laughed or cried."

"Hey…my stories aren't always bad."

She turned and looked at him.

"Well okay...sometimes they are. Anyway, while I was gone, I had a long talk with the Goblins and they read me Sirius' will."

She pulled his arms closer around her. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you then."

"It's okay…you're here now….anyway…Sirius left me the everything including the title of Lord Black…but in his will, he instructed the Goblins that there would be full disclosure about everything that it would entail in order to help me make up my mind. He had already removed what was left of the good stuff and placed it in his personal vault as that would go to me whether I accepted the title or not. He also instructed that his last wishes were that even if I did not take the title, I had the right to pick out anything I wanted as a gift from one house to another."

Daphne gasped "So you are Lord Potter now?"

"Yeah kind of. I have control over my house but I kind of rented my seats to Gringotts for the next twenty years. I just didn't want to deal with those fools anytime soon."

She giggled. "Do you think I could do the same? If you're leaving, I don't think interrupting our alone time to go to one of those meetings will be worth it."

He smiled. "You can ask."

"Okay…continue."

"Well…they gave me full disclosure (He shuddered). Narcissa and Lucius already stripped the vaults of their gold, gems, and any artifacts they could sell during the years when Sirius was locked up or on the run. Basically, House Black is broke. When the vaults were emptied, they began selling off the properties tied to the house. The only two left were the family's ancestral home and an island that was tied personally to Lord Black that no one but the head of house knew about."

"Doesn't sound like the title would be worth it."

"Oh it isn't. The only thing of value the Black's had was the island and by Sirius' own instruction…ownership of it was transferred to House Potter."

"You said there was still an ancestral home?"

"Yeah but I've been there and lets just say, the Black's don't have enough money to restore the place."

"So another strike against the title."

He smiled at her and then kissed her cheek. She looked at him funny before he said "I'm proud, you got that muggle saying right."

"Prat!" She then blushed. "I…I studied just in case. I would sneak out into regular London and hang out at coffee and book shops. Even bought some books."

He laughed. "I would compare your learning drive to a certain bushy haired former friend of mine but I wouldn't want to insult you."

She smiled and snuggled back into his arms. "None of those are so bad that the funds from House Potter couldn't take care of it. I do remember us finding out that both of the main Potter homes were destroyed during the last war."

"True but Sirius hated that house and I guess he influenced me to think about it that way as well."

"Well, I think I still know you well enough to know that two strikes weren't enough to dismiss the idea altogether…what did it?"

Harry smiled. "Well the title was tied to several contracts. As soon as they told me the names, I just had to say no."

"Who?"

"Ah…that would be the Bulstrode family and the Midgen family."

She snorted. "I can understand. It'd be like being married to Crabbe or Goyle. Thank Merlin they aren't around anymore."

"Yeah so…the next in line was Draco and I had the promise that disclosure would not be offered to him so I very graciously passed the title to him."

She started laughing hard. "I would love to be there to see that."

Harry sat there for a minute before he said "How soon can you be ready to leave this place? We have about an hour before that meeting takes place and Ragnok said I could watch from a special observation room."

Daphne called out to two elves. When they appeared, she said "Polly and Lolly, I think I will be leaving Hogwarts now. Go pack my things and take them home."

"Yes Mistress"

"When you get back home, pack all my things and get them ready for traveling."

"Yes Mistress."

Harry asked "In a hurry?"

"I want to see that plus, Ragnok can perform the marriage. I want to be married to you when we sleep together the first time."

"Isn't that a little fast?"

"Harry? Do you love me?"

"Yeah, no one else has even come close since…"

"Well I feel the same way. If it lasted this long despite everything…I think we should plan on staying together from now on. I know I don't want to be away from you anymore."

"Okay…Winky?"

POP

"Yes Master Harry?"

"It's time sweetheart. Gather all our stuff and wait for me to call."

"Yes Master Harry. Wills we be leaving Hoggywarts for good?"

"Yeah I think so. We're going to our new home for a while."

"Winky wills be waiting." She then turned to Daphne. "Wills you be my new Mistress?"

"Yes Winky."

She glanced between them both. "Bout damn time. Winky tired of hearing Master groan out Mistress' name half the night."

Harry blushed and Daphne's face morphed into a smirk. All at once, Polly popped back in and said "Mistress Daphne…all is ready. Did Polly hear right…will Polly be getting sleep now since Mistress won't be moaning out Master's name all night?"

This time it was Harry who smirked and Daphne blushing.

Both elves smiled at each other and then said "We bes expecting babies to take care of real soon."

**HD**

The elves handed Harry and Daphne their robes before they left for Gringotts. Harry grabbed both sets of robes and threw them over his shoulder before holding out his hand to Daphne. Instead of taking his hand, she wrapped her arms around his and started leading him out of the castle gates. The two of them enjoyed the looks of shock on the faces of the denizens of Hogwarts as the Golden boy and Ice Queen walked by. With a smirk on his face, Harry turned to Daphne at the gate and gave her a passionate kiss. While her eyes were still closed from the kiss, he waved at the people standing there and stepped out of the Hogwarts wards dragging Daphne with him. Without even turning on his heel, the duo disappeared.

When they arrived at the apparation point in Diagon Alley, he took her arm again and started leading her to Gringotts. With the way they were dressed, many of the people in the alley turned up their nose at them until they realized who it was. From that point, they just stared in awe at the man who won. When they made it to the steps, they stopped long enough to put on their robes before entering the bank.

With the meeting upon him, Draco strutted into the strutted into the bank to receive his inheritance with a superior smirk on his face. By the time he left the meeting, Draco was as pale as a vampire and shaking with uncontrolled rage. The confrontation with his parents during the meeting was worth the time spent as Draco ranted at his parents for destroying not only his birthright of the house Malfoy, but the one for House Black as well. The debts he incurred as Lord Black would bind him for many years to come.

**DG**

When the Malfoy meeting was over, Ragnok waved his hand at the wall and a laughing Harry and Daphne stepped out.

"I hope you enjoyed yourselves."

Harry chuckled. "We did but not nearly as much as you did."

Ragnok laughed as well. "Yes, that family has been an ache in our posterior for many years."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I see I'm going to have to give you muggle language lessons as well. It's…a pain in the ass."

"Yes well anyway…their accounts don't have nearly enough gold in them anymore for us to put up with their mouths and I think the young one is worse than the father."

Daphne said "You have no idea. Imagine having to share a common room with him."

Ragnok shuddered. "Anyway, I believe you said you had a service that I could provide you?"

**DG**

Black Island was a nice place to visit but after the past few restrictive years in England, the Potter-Greengrass couple just didn't want to be stuck in one place for too long. After a couple of years of traveling the world and never finding a country that they felt comfortable in, Harry and Daphne made a stop in Crete. In every other country they stopped in, they were quickly put off by the way the magical government would fawn all over them. It was a welcome relief when the Cretan magical government politely welcomed them and then left them alone.

That reaction alone was what caused them to buy a house in the island. With both of their family fortunes at hand, they bought a villa that overlooked the Mediterranean Ocean which afforded them a view of the vast clear blue water. For the two of them, they felt like they had finally found a home. The magical government was gracious enough to lend a hand with the arrangements and then once again left them alone. They later found out that the magical and muggle governments were very cooperative and with the amount of celebrities that had homes there, to them it was no big deal.

Their villa had one of those pools which seemed to just end at the view of the ocean. Daphne stepped out of the villa and found Harry with his arms hanging over the edge just looking out over the view.

"What are you thinking about baby?"

Her voice brought him out of his thoughts and he turned to look at her. His eyes roamed the deeply tanned and incredible body of his wife of a little over three years. "Nothing much…I guess basically about how perfect things are now."

She smiled. "How so?"

He swam over to her as she lowered her nude body into the water. As soon as she was in, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. When they broke apart he said. "Well, I figure I must have died and gone to heaven to have this gorgeous angel in my arms every night."

She snorted. "I think the eye surgery must not have worked if you think I'm gorgeous. I feel so bloated and ugly."

Harry chuckled. "You are absolutely perfect and I'm sure baby Potter inside you feels the same way. Besides, I didn't marry you for your looks alone."

She kissed him and snuggled into his arms. "Do you ever wonder what is going on back there? Don't you miss home?"

"Sometimes but then I think about all we have and the fact that if we were still there, there'd be people trying to keep us apart and making our lives hell. At least here, we have privacy."

"I know…I just told Gringotts to put the manor on the market…I decided that we wouldn't need it anymore."


End file.
